Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
15. call upon me &c.] Prayer is the proof of trust. Cp. Psa 20:1; yet note that that Psalm contains a reference to the acceptableness of material sacrifice ( Psa 50:3).
The LXX. here inserts a Selah, which would appropriately mark the close of this division of the Ps. Cp. Psa 50:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And call upon me in the day of trouble – This is a part of real religion as truly as praise is, Psa 50:14. This is also the duty and the privilege of all the true worshippers of God. To do this shows where the heart is, as really as direct acts of praise and thanksgiving. The purpose of all that is said here is to show that true religion – the proper service of God – does not consist in the mere offering of sacrifice, but that it is of a spiritual nature, and that the offering of sacrifice is of no value unless it is accompanied by corresponding acts of spiritual religion, showing that the heart has a proper appreciation of the mercies of God, and that it truly confides in him. Such spirituality in religion is expressed by acts of praise Psa 50:14; but it is also as clearly expressed Psa 50:15 by going to God in times of trouble, and rolling the burdens of life on his arm, and seeking consolation in him.
I will deliver thee – I will deliver thee from trouble. This will occur
(a) either in this life, in accordance with the frequent promises of his word (compare the notes at Psa 46:1); or
(b) wholly in the future world, where all who love God will be completely and forever delivered from all forms of sorrow.
And thou shalt glorify me – That is, Thou wilt honor me, or do me honor, by thus coming to me with confidence in the day of calamity. There is no way in which we can honor God more, or show more clearly that we truly confide in him, than by going to him when everything seems to be dark; when his own ways and dealings are wholly incomprehensible to us, and committing all into his hands.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.
The true deliverance
Many an one, in the day of trouble, has called on God even with an exceeding bitter cry, and yet has found no deliverance. The cloudy and dark day has continued full of a gloom, which no light from heaven has broken through to relieve. The blow which we dreaded, and which we prayed might not fall, has fallen. But need our faith fail, so that we shall refuse any more to rely on Gods promise again? Can there be any real ground for that? It would be awful if there were; if we had to think of God, as we too often have to think of men, as not to be depended on, not to be trusted to make good His word. It would be almost better to be Atheists than to think that. But the solution of the difficulty is in the fact that what God means by deliverance is other than what we mean. We are asking for one thing when He means another. And perhaps, also, we misunderstand God when He says, Call upon Me. Do we not too often take it to mean that when we see no other help, then we should call on God for there is nothing else to be done? Is not this too much our idea; and is it a just idea? Have we any right to treat God in that way? to neglect Him and forget Him till we are in trouble, and then to call aloud on Him, simply to remove the trouble? I do not think we can interpret Gods Word as meaning that He will answer such a call by such a deliverance. He means that the trouble is to do the work which He desires it should; to lead us to Him, to break in upon our worldliness, self-sufficiency, and forgetfulness of our dependence on Him, and to help us to receive the blessing it is meant to bestow, so that through it we may be delivered, not necessarily from it, but from the evils which it was intended to correct, from the dangers against which it was the warning. A man, for instance, who had wilfully committed a crime and been visited with the punishment of his crime, might feel so touched in heart and so distressed in mind, as to be led to the thought of God, and to cry to God for deliverance; but could be expect God to open his prison door and let him go free, or to pay his fine and let him off without a penalty? Would that be indeed a deliverance to him? Would not the only real deliverance be a deliverance from the evil heart and unrighteous spirit which led him to commit the crime; and would not the outward trouble, from which God did not deliver him, be doing its proper work, if through Gods grace it was the means of delivering him from that evil heart and that unrighteous spirit? If it did that, could he say God had not heard his cry or wrought deliverance for him? (R. H. Story, D. D.)
Encouragement for the pious in the day of trial
I. The speaker. The mighty God; possessing–
1. Boundless knowledge (Heb 4:13; Act 10:5-6; Mat 10:30).
2. Infinite goodness (Psa 145:9; Psa 103:13; Psa 147:11).
3. Omnipotent power (Psa 148:6).
II. The persons addressed.
1. Those who fear and love God (1Co 3:21-23).
2. Those who are subjects of trial (Heb 12:6; Heb 12:10).
III. The duty suggested. Call upon Me.
1. Humility.
2. Sincerity.
3. Confidence.
4. Consistency.
5. Importunity.
IV. The declaration made. I will deliver thee.
1. At what time He sees best.
2. In what way He sees best.
3. By what means He sees best.
V. The grateful returns required. And thou shalt glorify Me.
1. By a devout acknowledgment of the Divine goodness (Psa 34:1-4). Be careful not to ascribe that to human agency which is immediately the work of God.
2. By unreserved devotedness to Him (Rom 12:1; 1Co 6:20).
3. By promoting His interests–your time, talents, influence employed for God. Present them through the merits of Christ.
VI. Improvement.
1. To those who love and fear God. How blessed is your state I The Lord is your God, call upon Him.
2. To those who are humbly seeking God (Mat 11:28).
3. To those who are living without God. How awful your state! (Rom 2:5). (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
For the day of trouble
I. The day. Day of trouble.
1. All know more or less of this day–morning, noon, or eventide of it, or the whole day.
2. Trouble various:
(1) Business trouble–competition–dishonest traders–bad times, etc.
(2) Domestic trouble–family cares–sick child–wayward son or daughter–poverty.
(3) Soul-trouble–sins realized–con-science accusing–unworthiness and imperfections–doubts and fears, etc.
3. Only a day! not a week–month–year, etc.
II. The request. Call upon Me. Friends generally plentiful in prosperity, scarce in trouble. God wants us to come particularly then. Take your prayer-cheques and faith-orders to His Bank, and so ask and receive that your joy may be full. This the Divine cure for trouble. Dont worry–chafe–fret–despair; simply give Him a call–He is always at home, etc.
III. The promise. I will deliver thee. Infinite ability and willinghood–power and love–are at the back of this promise. None ever called aright and were refused. Noah, David, Daniel, etc., cried and were delivered.
IV. The result. Thou shalt glorify Me.
1. By presenting praise (verse 23).
2. By publishing His fame–gratitude will constrain to this.
3. By trusting implicitly at all times. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
Robinson Crusoes text
One book charmed us all in the days of our youth. Is there a boy alive who has not read it? I am not ashamed to confess that I can read it even now with ever fresh delight. You remember how Robinson Crusoe was wrecked. He is left in the desert island all alone. He is smitten with fever. He is ready to perish. Now he begins to think, and opens a Bible which he finds in his chest, and he lights upon this passage. That night he prayed for the first time in his life. It is a text which I would have written in stars across the sky, or sounded forth with trumpet at noon from the top of every tower. Observe–
I. Realism is preferred to ritualism. Note the content. How this is so.
1. Because there is meaning in it. There is none in ritualism when grace is absent. But when you call upon God in the day of trouble there is meaning, and God understands, and cares for it when all the pomp and show, and the gorgeousness of ritual are to Him as nothing.
2. There is spirituality in it, and worship in spirit and in truth is what God would have.
3. It recognizes God as the living God.
4. It is sincere. In prosperity we are apt to forget our prayers. Too many of us are like boys tops, that cease to spin except they are whipped. Certainly trouble gives intensity to prayer.
5. It is humble. Too often we are over-satisfied with our own performances in the way of worship, but when in deep trouble the soul bows down then.
6. And there is a measure of faith in such prayers. When faith does, as it were, only cross over the field of the camera, so that across the photograph there is a dim trace of its having been there, God can spy it out, and He can and will accept prayer for the sake of that little faith. Next we have–
II. Adversity turned to advantage. God cannot deliver a man who is not in trouble: even Jesus Christ cannot heal a man who is not sick. Now, if you be in trouble, you have–
1. A plea from the time. This is the day of trouble. Your case is urgent.
2. From the trouble itself. It is so great.
3. From the command. God bids you pray.
4. From His own character–so great, so good.
III. Free grace laid under bonds. I will deliver thee: thus God pledges Himself. The text is unconditional as to the persons. And Gods I will includes all needful power which may be needed for deliverance. But we are not told exactly when God wilt do this. You are in a great hurry, but the Lord is not. When the gold is cast into the fining-pot, there it must stay till the dross is purged away. But promptitude is implied. He will deliver you in the best possible time.
IV. God and the praying man taking shares. Here is your share, Call upon Me; here is Gods share, I will deliver. Again, here is yours, You shall be delivered; and then, again, it is the Lords turn, Thou shalt glorify Me. Here is a delightful partnership. Who would demur to these terms? If God will pardon and justify us, adopt and sanctify us, and bring us home to heaven at last, shall He not have the glory of it? Even some divines will give man a little of the glory. Oh, that Dagon of a free will! How men will worship it! Go out henceforth, you saved ones, and tell what the Lord has done for you. An aged woman once said that if the Lord Jesus Christ really did save her, He should never hear the last of it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Prayer to God in trouble an acceptable sacrifice
God here reproves Israel not for keeping back from Him abundant ceremonial service–they were not at fault there–but for not rendering Him the worship of the heart. That was what He desired more than all burnt offering and sacrifice. And the reasons of Gods preference are evident. For–
I. It brings glory to him in itself.
1. It shows that God is a reality to the man.
2. There is spiritual intercourse in it. How easy it is to say a prayer without coming into contact with God! Year after year the tongue repeats pious language, as a barrel organ grinds out the old tunes, and there may be no more converse with the Lord than if the man had muttered to the ghosts of the slain. Many prayers might as well be said backward as forwards, for there would be as much in them one way as the other. The abracadabra of the magician has quite as much virtue in it as any other set of mere words.
3. It is filled with a manifest hope in God.
4. It exhibits a clinging affection to Him, and–
5. A most stedfast confidence. Therefore is it that such prayer brings glory to God.
II. Also, through the answer which it wins. The answer is personal, positive, practical, permanent.
III. And the Lord will be glorified in your conduct afterwards. Adoration, gratitude, trust, patience, a consecrated life. It is by the sharp needle of sorrow that we are embroidered with the praises of the Lord. The brightest of the saints owe much of their clearness to the fire and the file. We must be tried that the Lord may be glorified. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Our only deliverance
I. The duty enjoined. Call upon Me, etc. This bears fully upon our present circumstances (2Ch 7:13-14). The word call implies–
1. Earnestness of heart.
2. Faith, which realizes both Gods truth and Gods grace.
3. Expectation.
II. The promise given–I will deliver thee. Who else can? Medical science seems of but little avail. But God can (Rev 7:1-17.). The command to the angel of penitence; and 2 Samuel, last chapter. All show that the Lord can limit the powers of evil. Let us remember the love of God–His presenting, forbearing, redeeming, sanctifying love.
III. Practical lessons.
1. Acknowledge Gods hand in this affliction.
2. Do not exaggerate it.
3. Do not neglect it. Humble yourselves and help the poor. (H. Montagu Villiers, M. A.)
The Christians duty in the day of trouble
What an encouraging character does this psalm give us of the religion He would see in us. He represents it as consisting chiefly in thanksgiving and prayer.
I. A command for Gods people. They are represented as in trouble. There is a day of trouble, it is intimated, either come on them or coming. And it is a touching circumstance, that whoever else may overlook our troubles, the Lord does not. Call upon Me in the day of trouble. Afflicted souls should pray more and oftener, and to bring us to this is the design of trouble, and when we are brought thus to pray, it is one of the very best evidences that our trouble has been blessed to us. One thing more we must add–the Lord will assuredly bring all His troubled people to this, this calling upon Him. He will knock away their props from under them, or He will wither their strength, or He will add more and more to their burden; in some way He will make them feel that they cannot possibly stand without Him (Psa 107:1-43.).
II. A gracious promise the lord gives to his people. I will deliver thee. This means–
1. Deliverance in trouble; or–
2. From trouble.
III. The happy effect which is to follow–Thou shalt glorify Me. And this will be both in and after our trouble. The believer ever recognizes Gods hand in such deliverance, and therefore glorifies Him. Let us all turn to God now, so that we may be able to turn to Him when trouble comes. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The day of trouble
Why not deliver without calling? He knows the sorrow and need of His people, and if it be in His heart to deliver, why wait to be called upon? When a man is in trouble, and his neighbours help him out, he is not in much danger of confounding his benefactor with himself, or of questioning, after all, if the deliverance did not come in some other way. But if God delivered men without being called upon, they would soon become rationalistic, in their way of looking at things, and not only account for the day of trouble, but also for their deliverance, upon the mere principles of reason or natural law. It is the calling spirit which He seeks to evoke–the spirit which recognizes Him as the only deliverer of His people.
I. The time. The day of trouble does not appear to be governed, as is our natural day, by planetary revolutions, or the swing of the pendulum. It may come at any hour, and may stay long after the natural day is done.
II. The request. Call upon Me.
1. Humbly.
2. Believingly, etc.
III. The promise. I will deliver thee. God can always repeat Himself; He can always deliver more gloriously the next time you call upon Him, if you only honour Him by asking, and believing that He will.
IV. The result. Thou shalt glorify Me.
1. By our faith.
2. By gratitude.
3. By obedience.
4. By testifying of His goodness.
5. By devotion to His cause.
6. By praising Him. (T. Kelly.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And make conscience of that great duty of constant and fervent prayer to me; which is an acknowledgment of thy subjection to me, and of thy trust and dependence upon me, and therefore is pleasing to me.
In the day of trouble; when trouble comes, do not avoid it by sinful shifts, not trust to creatures for relief, as hypocrites generally do, but give glory to me, by relying upon my promises, and expect help from me by hearty and unfeigned prayer.
Thou shalt glorify me: this is mentioned, either,
1. As a privilege; thou shalt have occasion to praise and glorify me for thy deliverance. Or,
2. As a further duty; thou shalt give me the glory of thy deliverance by praising me for it, and improving it to my service and glory.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And call upon me in the day of trouble,…. This is another part of spiritual sacrifice or worship, which is much more acceptable to God than legal sacrifices. Invocation of God includes all parts of religious worship, and particularly designs prayer, as it does here, of which God, and he only, is the object; and which should be performed in faith, in sincerity, and with fervency; and though it should be made at all times, in private and in public, yet more especially should be attended to in a time of affliction, whether of soul or body, whether of a personal, family, or public kind, Jas 5:13; and the encouragement to it is,
I will deliver thee: that is, out of trouble: as he is able, so faithful is he that hath promised, and will do it. The obligation follows,
and thou shall glorify me; by offering praise, Ps 50:23; ascribing the glory of the deliverance to God, and serving him in righteousness and true holiness continually.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the fifteenth verse we have first an injunction to prayer, then a promise of its being answered, and afterwards a call to thanksgiving. We are enjoined to pray in the day of trouble, but not with the understanding that we are to pray only then, for prayer is a duty incumbent upon us every day, and every moment of our lives. Be our situation ever so comfortable and exempt from disquietude, we must never cease to engage in the exercise of supplication, remembering that, if God should withdraw his favor for a moment, we would be undone. In affliction, however our faith is more severely tried, and there is a propriety in specifying it as the season of prayer; the prophet pointing us to God as the only resort and means of safety in the day of our urgent necessity. A promise is subjoined to animate us in the duty, disposed as we are to be overwhelmed by a sense of the majesty of God, or of our own unworthiness. Gratitude is next enjoined, in consideration of God’s answer to our prayers. Invocation of the name of God being represented in this passage as constituting a principal part of divine worship, all who make pretensions to piety will feel how necessary it is to preserve the pure and uncorrupted form of it. We are forcibly taught the detestable nature of the error upon this point entertained by the Papists, who transfer to angels and to men an honor which belongs exclusively to God. They may pretend to view these in no other light than as patrons, who pray for them to God. But it is evident that these patrons are impiously substituted by them in the room of Christ, whose mediation they reject. It is apparent, besides, from the form of their prayers, that they recognize no distinction between God and the very least of their saints. They ask the same things from Saint Claudius which they ask from the Almighty, and offer the prayer of our Lord to the image of Catherine. I am aware that the Papists justify their invocation of the dead, by denying that their prayers to them amount to divine worship. They talk so much about the kind of worship which they call latria, that is, the worship which they give to God alone, as to make it appear, that in the invocation of angels and saints they give none of it to them. (250) But it is impossible to read the words of the Psalmist, now under our consideration, without perceiving that all true religion is gone unless God alone is called upon. Were the Papists asked whether it were lawful to offer sacrifices to the dead, they would immediately reply in the negative. They grant to this day that sacrifice could not lawfully be offered to Peter or to Paul, for the common sense of mankind would dictate the profanity of such an act. And when we here see God preferring the invocation of his name to all sacrifices, is it not plain to demonstration, that those who call upon the dead are chargeable with the grossest impiety? From this it follows, that the Papists, let them abound as they may in their genuflections before God, rob him of the chief part of his glory when they direct their supplications to the saints. (251) The express mention which is made in these verses of affliction is fitted to comfort the weak and the fearful believer. When God has withdrawn the outward marks of his favor, a doubt is apt to steal into our minds whether he really cares for our salvation. So far is this from being well founded, that adversity is sent to us by God, just to stir us up to seek him and to call upon his name. Nor should we overlook the fact, that our prayers are only acceptable when we offer them in compliance with the commandment of God, and are animated to them by a consideration of the promise which he has extended. The argument which the Papists have drawn from the passage, in support of their multiplied vows, is idle and unwarrantable. The Psalmist, as we have already hinted, when he enjoins the payment of their vows, refers only to solemn thanksgiving, whereas they trust in their vows as meriting salvation. They contract vows, beside, which have no divine warrant, but, on the contrary, are explicitly condemned by the word of God.
(250) The Papists have different words by which they express different degrees of worship. The term λατρεια, or latria , they say, denotes the divine worship which exclusively belongs to God, and which they yield to him alone; while δουλεια, or dulia , signifies that inferior sort of worship which is due to angels and departed saints, and which alone they yield to them. They have also a third degree, which they call ὑπερδουλεια, or hyperdulia , that superior kind of inferior worship which they yield to the Virgin Mary. These distinctions are had recourse to, merely to evade the charge of idolatry. But if the Papists yield to angels and glorified saints the honor due only to God, it is of little consequence by what name it is called. Besides, the words λατρεαι and δουλεαι are used indifferently by classic Greek authors, by the Greek fathers, by the Septuagint, and in the New Testament, to express divine worship. In the New Testament, δουλεια frequently denotes divine worship. Thus we read, in 1Th 1:9, “Ye turned to God from idols, δουλευειν τω Θεω ζῶντι, to serve the living God;” and in Gal 4:8, it is said of the Galatians in their heathen state, that “ ἐδουλευσαν, they did service unto them which, by nature, are no gods.” — See Calvin ’ s Institutes, Book I. chap.12, sections 2 and 3; Turretine ’ s Works, volume 4, De Necessaria Secessione Nostra ab Ecclesia Romana , pp. 50-53; and M ’ Gavin ’ s Protestant, volume 1, No. 42, p. 334.
(251) The subject of the invocation of departed saints is discussed at length in Calvin’s Institutes, Book III. chap. 20, sections 21-27.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
15. Call upon me I will deliver thee Acting upon these instructions, and meeting the spirit and intent of the law, your prayers will be acceptable and will be answered.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This seems to be a solemn remonstrance and expostulation with the unbelieving and hypocritical Jews, who rested in the means, and totally overlooked and even despised the end: who, as our Lord told them in his days, tithed mint, anise, and cummin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; Mat 23:23 . The Apostle hath a similar address of charges on his countrymen, the Jews, Rom 2:17 , etc.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Ver. 15. And call upon me ] These two, praising God for what we have, and praying for what we want, do take up the whole duty of man; a holy trade is hereby driven between heaven and earth, and sweet intercourse maintained between God and man.
In the day of trouble
I will deliver thee
And thou shall glorify me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
call: Psa 77:2, Psa 91:15, Psa 107:6-13, Psa 107:19, Psa 107:28, 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13, Job 22:27, Zec 13:9, Luk 22:44, Act 16:25, Jam 5:13
deliver: Psa 34:3, Psa 34:4, Psa 66:13-20, Luk 17:15-18
glorify: Psa 50:23, Psa 22:23, Mat 5:16, Joh 15:8, 1Pe 4:11, 1Pe 4:14
Reciprocal: Gen 21:17 – heard Gen 25:21 – entreated Gen 31:3 – Return Gen 32:9 – Jacob Gen 35:3 – who answered Exo 15:25 – cried Lev 26:43 – and they Deu 26:7 – we cried Jdg 3:15 – cried unto Jdg 4:3 – cried Jdg 6:6 – cried Jdg 9:7 – Hearken Jdg 16:28 – called 1Sa 1:10 – prayed 1Sa 7:9 – cried unto 1Sa 23:11 – And the Lord 1Sa 30:8 – he answered him 2Sa 12:16 – besought 2Sa 15:32 – he worshipped 2Sa 21:1 – of the Lord 2Sa 22:4 – so 1Ki 8:38 – prayer 1Ki 22:32 – Jehoshaphat 2Ki 13:4 – the Lord 2Ki 19:4 – lift up 2Ki 19:20 – I have heard 2Ki 20:2 – he turned 2Ch 6:29 – what prayer 2Ch 13:14 – cried 2Ch 14:11 – cried unto 2Ch 20:4 – ask help of the Lord 2Ch 28:22 – in the 2Ch 32:20 – prayed Neh 4:9 – Nevertheless Job 5:8 – seek Job 33:26 – pray Psa 3:4 – I cried Psa 9:9 – in times Psa 18:3 – so shall Psa 18:6 – distress Psa 27:5 – For in Psa 35:28 – General Psa 55:16 – General Psa 81:7 – calledst Psa 86:7 – General Psa 116:4 – called Psa 120:1 – my distress Son 2:14 – let me hear Son 8:13 – cause Isa 19:20 – they shall Isa 26:16 – in trouble Isa 30:19 – he will Isa 33:2 – our salvation Isa 37:3 – General Isa 38:2 – turned Isa 41:17 – I the Lord Isa 58:9 – shalt thou Isa 65:24 – General Jer 14:8 – in time Jer 29:12 – General Jer 33:3 – Call Jer 39:17 – I will Eze 20:3 – As I Dan 2:18 – they would Hos 5:15 – in their Joe 1:19 – to thee Joe 2:32 – that Jon 2:1 – prayed Mic 7:7 – my God Nah 1:7 – in the Mat 7:7 – and it Mat 15:31 – and they Mar 5:23 – besought Luk 5:12 – besought Luk 11:9 – Ask Luk 23:43 – To day Joh 4:46 – whose Joh 9:24 – Give Act 9:11 – for 1Jo 3:22 – whatsoever
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 50:15. And call upon me Make conscience of that great duty of constant and fervent prayer to me, which is an acknowledgment of thy subjection to me, and of thy trust and dependance upon me, and therefore is pleasing to me; in the day of trouble When trouble comes, do not endeavour to avoid or extricate thyself from it by sinful shifts and contrivances, nor apply merely or chiefly to creatures for relief, but give glory to me, by applying to me, relying on my promises, and expecting help from me in the way of hearty and unfeigned prayer. I will deliver thee I will support thee under thy troubles, and deliver thee out of them in the time and manner which will be most for my glory and thy good. And thou shalt glorify me Shalt have occasion, and shalt consider it as thy duty, to praise and glorify me for thy deliverance. Observe well, reader, our troubles, though we see them coming from the hand of God, should drive us to God, and not from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves entirely to him, and so give him glory. This is a cheaper, easier, readier way of seeking his favour than by a peace-offering or trespass-offering, and yet more acceptable. Observe also, when in answer to our prayers he delivers us, as he has promised to do in such way and time as he shall think fit, we must glorify him, not only by a grateful mention of his favours, but by living to his praise. Thus must we keep up our communion with God: meeting him with our prayers when he afflicts us, and with our praises when he delivers us.